The Vampire Diaries 3.1 The Birthday and Secret Circle 1.1 Pilot

The Vampire Diaries: So it is time for my once a year check in on The Vampire Diaries. I do not dislike TVD, in fact it is one of my guilty pleasures, but there are other shows that take priority over TVD and unfortunately that is pretty much anything on Thursday night. Thursday nights are crazy busy and TVD always gets forgotten, but when I do get to watch I love it! The season opener did not disappoint. Elena is finally 18, Stefan is off with Klaus being “Ripper” in hopes of saving his brother, and Damon is busy living life, flashing his junk at Elena, and just being his usual badass self. We learn that Elena has spent all summer tracking Stefan, while Damon has mocked her, then secretly tracked Stefan with Alaric. He was tracking in secret because Stefan has become “Ripper” and is killing folks left and right. Apparently when he starts killing things get messy, body parts get detached, then he feels guilty and puts the bodies back together. That just seems time-consuming to me, but then again that is why I’m a Damon girl. Klaus is not happy to have Damon on his trail so Stefan does the only logical thing and makes Damon watch as he kills his current girlfriend Andie. Prepare for the rage and revenge that will ensue now that Stefan has made that move. Jeremy meanwhile is seeing dead people, smoking pot, and looking ripped. I don’t know if there is an explanation for his muscular change, but he has gotten ripped between seasons. Caroline is still stringing along Matt and Tyler, but then decides since she and Tyler have those super human sex drives they should just hook up. All goes as planned until Caroline is leaving the Lockwood home. Mama Lockwood catches her making the walk of shame, Caroline is embarrassed and tries to grab her purse and go, but Mama Lockwood has booby-trapped the purse so it burns Caroline’s hand. While Caroline is trying to figure out why the hand is burning, Mama Lockwood takes her down with a series of tranquilizer darts! TVD never disappoints on the crazy twists. I will watch when I can, but don’t look for regular blog updates.

Secret Circle: Secret Circle could be TVD but with witches, except the characters are just not as compelling. Cassie (Brittany Robertson) has just moved to town after losing her mother in a freak fire (actually set on purpose by a bad witch). She doesn’t really understand why everyone is staring at her, even her creepy neighbor boy is watching her through her bedroom window. As if that isn’t bad enough on her first day of school )her car catches fire (set by bad-girl witch Faye), luckily dreamy moody boy witch Adam (Thomas Dekker) saves her life. Cassie can’t understand how the fire started or suddenly stops, but Adam can’t reveal to her yet that they are all witches. Faye wants to tell Cassie immediately so she can up her power level, Adam’s girlfriend Diana says ain’t nobody telling her nothing till she’s ready. Well, then Diana decides it is time. She leads Cassie into the woods were she is confronted by all the other witches and told what she is. Cassie and Adam sneak into the woods and do some magic together (no euphemism intended), Cassie doesn’t think its cool, she is actually kind of creeped out. Diana then decides to reveal that all their parents were witches, some horrible accident happened that killed Cassie’s dad, and that all the living parents are trying to hide something about that terrible night from them. Guess what she is right! And the man doing all the hiding (and killing) is Diana’s dad! He is the bad witch that killed Cassie’s mom, but of course no one knows that so he will just continue to slip around the town intimidating and torturing people. Secret Circle was not bad, but it just didn’t have the same zing as TVD. TVD is a twist a minute, and Secret Circle is a twist every 30 minutes or so. But please keep in mind this was the pilot, time is needed to provide background information and establish who people are. Secret Circle may take off next week and be unstoppable. I may or may not be there to see it depending on what else premieres next week.

About Sunshine

I am the co-creator of S and E Pop Culture. I currently live and work in Knoxville, TN. I love all things TV and Movies and love to discuss them with anyone who wants to talk! Check out the blog sepopculture.wordpress.com and let me know what you think.